1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire forming apparatus which forms parts having various shapes by, for example, forcibly bending, curving, or winding a wire using a forming tool while feeding the wire, and cutting it with a cutting tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, Japanese Patent No. 3026793 discloses a spring manufacturing apparatus which allows selection of an arbitrary tool by rotating a tool selection table radially supporting a plurality of types of forming tools (other than cutting tools).
According to Japanese Patent No. 3026793, however, cutting tools cannot be mounted on the tool selection table and hence are slidably mounted on auxiliary tool apparatus 450 and 460 separately fixed on a base. This therefore makes it necessary to cut a wire always at the same position, resulting in limiting the degree of freedom in machining.
In the prior art, a cutting tool Ta is made to slide downward relative to the distal end portion of a wire guide 415, from which a wire is fed, to produce shearing force in cooperation with the wire guide 415, thereby cutting the wire. When cutting a wire having a diameter of 5 mm or more, the wire guide may be deformed or damaged by the shearing force required to cut the wire.